


It's Only Natural

by megreadsthings



Category: Mamma Mia! (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluffy maybe?, idk I just love this pair, mentions of dot dot dot, pregnant Donna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 14:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15974429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megreadsthings/pseuds/megreadsthings
Summary: Donna is caught off guard when Bill shows up out of the blue, six months after their night on his boat.What does he want? Why is he here? And most importantly, what is he going to say when he sees her again?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well this came as a surprise to me! I haven't written a fic in YEARS but I haven't stopped thinking about this pairing since seeing the movie (twice) and I just had to. Because really, with that chemistry, you can't convince me Bill never went back to the island in twenty years. 
> 
> Also, I know we're not supposed to care which dad is The Dad, but Bill is clearly The Dad and that's a hill I'm willing to die on, fight me.

Bill Anderson is losing his mojo. Or maybe his mind. Either way, something is definitely wrong.

 

Six months. _Six months_ and he still can’t seem to get her out of his head. It’s not like he hasn’t tried. Everywhere he goes, he looks for something new and yet all he can see is her. Her eyes, her smile, her wild blonde curls.

 

But they’d had an understanding. She was still heartbroken over Sam, looking for a distraction and certainly not in the market for something serious. And he was Bill - constantly flirting, never serious, always the first to move on.

 

Except this time.

 

He’s even taken to sleeping on the spare bed he offered her that first night – he can’t look at his own without picturing her lying there, bathed in morning light, her hair spilling across the pillows and his old jumper she had been wearing bundled on the floor.

 

It wasn’t exaggerating to say it was one of his favourite mornings in living memory.

 

He remembers what she said the first day they met – he was one of _them,_ the seducers who fell genuinely in love every evening only to fall out of it again the next morning. But with every day that passes since her accidental stage dive in his cousin’s bar, he starts to think she might have been wrong about the second part.

 

_Only one way to find out, Bill._

 

And just like that, he sets course for an overdue return to Kalokairi.

 

~

 

Six months along, and Donna is _tired._ She spends her days fixing up the farmhouse, and her nights at Lazaros’s bar. As soon as she’d told Sofia about the baby, the older woman had taken pity on her and offered her work to help her get by. So, by day she paints, hammers and cleans, and by night she pours drinks, clears tables and talks to people.

 

Oh, and she sings. The crowds are getting smaller as her belly grows and her boundless, infectious energy wanes, but she’s still doing something she loves. So that’s something.

 

So maybe it’s not the spectacular life she had pictured for herself. Maybe not the “great things” the vice chancellor had predicted for her on her graduation day. But it was her life, her choice, and she revelled in her own kind of freedom.

 

And yet she couldn’t stop thinking about that last wild summer. Not just because of the permanent, living reminder she was carrying around, but also the mystery that came along with it.

 

Did she even want to know? What if the baby came out looking exactly like one of them? What if it looked like Sam? Donna wasn’t sure how she would feel about that.

 

_You think too much, you get unhappy._

She had been reminding herself of those words a lot recently. What’s done is done, it’s just her and baby from now on and that’s fine. She doesn’t even miss Sam anymore. Most of the time.

 

If she’s completely honest with herself, it’s a different pair of blue eyes that have been haunting her dreams lately. Bigger, deeper, much like the ocean their owner loved so much. Which is inconvenient, given that she’s never going to see them again.

 

She has to get over this. The last thing she needs right now is to be hung up on another guy, especially Bill. There was a reason he had been so perfect; he wouldn’t give you the chance to get attached.

 

So why does she feel like she did anyway?

 

~

 

It’s late when Bill finally docks his boat by the little jetty in Kalokairi. He knows she was staying in his aunt Sofia’s old farmhouse when he was last here, but he can’t see any lights when he looks in that direction.

 

 _Probably for the best,_ he thinks to himself. _I’ll look for her tomorrow._

In the meantime, he could really use a beer.

 

He wanders through the town in the direction of the bar, trying to decide what he’s going to say when he does eventually see her again. How can he even begin to explain himself?

 

He finally reaches that familiar doorway, where he serendipitously broke her fall during his last visit. Pushing it open, he peers inside. The bar is empty, but clearly still open. Lazaros must be slacking off somewhere again. _Good thing I’m family_ , thinks Bill as he reaches behind the bar and helps himself to a beer.

 

Staring down the neck of the bottle, he starts to plan how he’s going to pitch himself to Donna for the long run.

 

~

 

She hums to herself as she wipes down tables in the empty bar. It’s the end of a long night, and she’s looking forward to getting back to the farmhouse and attempting to get a good night’s sleep. Not that that’s been happening much lately.

 

What has been on the increase, though, is her surprisingly regular need to pee. It comes on suddenly and urgently, causing her to rush to the bathroom as fast as she can move. While she’s in there, she thinks she hears the door, but _screw them, they can wait._ She is far too cranky to deal with some random latecomer right now.

 

After a few minutes, she gets herself together and strides out of the bathroom, ready to kick whatever lost local is there right back out of the door. She is definitely not expecting to see a familiar figure perched on a barstool, beer in hand, unusually tense in his posture.

 

_Oh, fuck._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I definitely messed this up and wrote/published chapter 2 before deciding to do chapter 1, but let's just roll with it. You think too much, you get unhappy ;)

“Bill?!”

 

Donna barely recognises the strangled cry as having come from her own mouth – she is far too shocked, far too nervous, and somewhere underneath it all there’s a faint sizzle of excitement that he’s back.

 

Mainly the shock and nerves, though.

 

Her hands instinctively rise to cradle her stomach, and she’s not sure whether she’s shielding Bill, the baby or herself from what’s about to happen.

 

He looks up from his beer, the grin on his face as wide and charming as ever, ocean blue eyes scanning her face.

 

“Donna. It’s great to see you again.”

 

She gapes, lost for words, and his gaze drops as he takes in the rest of her.

 

“What…”

 

“Bill, I can explain. Well, I can try. I mean, I’m sure you’re familiar with the ins and outs of it, but… Oh, that was a poor choice of words, um-“

 

“Did I do this?” He cuts her off, gesturing to the curve of her belly still cradled in her hands.

 

She sighs, throwing her arms up and collapsing into a chair.

 

“I don’t know. Maybe. Possibly.” Their gazes lock once more. “Probably.”

 

It’s Bill’s turn to gape speechlessly.

 

“I mean it could be Sam’s. Or Harry’s, even. Did I tell you about Harry? He’s sweet, you would like him. Anyway I don’t… I’m not sure.”

 

There’s a moment of silence as they stare at each other, neither one knowing how to break the tension filling the room. Then, just like that, Bill is laughing.

 

Donna scowls, swatting the air in his general direction.

 

“It’s not funny.”

 

“Oh, come on.” He chuckles. “It’s a little bit funny.”

 

His smile is infectious. Donna can feel the corners of her mouth starting to twitch, but she’s not giving in just yet.

 

“How so?”

 

“All the women I’ve known, of course you would be the one who ends up pregnant. You always know how to leave an impression.”

 

That damn teasing grin is testing her. Time to hit back.

 

“Right, of course, because you’re an international stud with a woman in every port, how could I forget?”

 

“None that I go back to.”

 

“You came back here.”

 

“I did.”

 

A new kind of tension settles over them now. Donna thanks whatever sadistic God is watching over her right now that she is sitting five feet away and moves like a slug these days, or she might have kissed him just to wipe away that smile for a second.

 

“Why?”

 

“I don’t know. I just felt like something was pulling me back here.” He gestures to her stomach again. “Now I know it was just your giant belly sucking me into its orbit.”

 

That does it. She dissolves into a fit of giggles, tossing the rag she had been cleaning tables with at his chest.

 

“You’re an asshole.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“I’m not that big.”

 

“No, you’re not. You’re perfect.”

 

Her giggles stop, and the tension returns. _What kind of asshole just says things like that?_

“Bill. What are you really doing here?”

 

“I wanted to see you again. Is that so terrible?”

 

_Yes. No. Maybe._

“For a repeat of last time? Because,” She waves her hands to indicate the bump, “That’s obviously not happening.”

 

“Not necessarily. Not everything has to be about sex, you know.”

 

She laughs again. “Shut up, I don’t have anything else to throw at you.”

 

“I can think of a few things.”

 

“Not everything has to be about sex, you know.”

 

He smiles softly; looking her over for a beat before the stupid grin splits his face again.

 

“Let’s go for a walk.”

 

“Right now? I haven’t finished clearing up yet.”

 

“Sofia won’t mind, she loves it when her favourite nephew is in town.”

 

He has a point, Donna mused. Sofia had been ecstatic the last time Bill showed up, and had practically thrown them out of the bar for that fated boat trip.

 

“Alright, fine. Since you’ve come all this way.”

 

~

 

As they walk along the moonlit street, Bill takes her hand like it’s the most natural thing in the world. She has to admit it feels good to have his big, rough hand in hers.

 

Safe.

 

She shakes her head, laughing softly to herself. She couldn’t let ideas like that into her head; Bill wasn’t that kind of guy.

 

“What’s so funny?”

 

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking about… how I got here.”

 

“You don’t remember? You missed the ferry, I brought you here on my boat, we rescued a fisherman and stopped a wedding and two people nearly drowned?”

 

She bumps her shoulder into his.

 

“You know what I mean. Here, with child, without man. Alone on an island at the end of the world.”

 

“You don’t have to be alone, you know.”

 

She scoffs.

 

“Who’s gonna stick around, my mother? She hasn’t left Vegas in years. I couldn’t ask Rosie and Tanya to make that sacrifice, who else is there?”

 

“There’s me.”

 

Donna stops walking.

 

“Bill…”

 

“Seriously. I could be your someone.”

 

“Bill. Please. Don’t… I don’t want you to feel like you have to stay here. I mean, it might not even be yours.”

 

“So?”

 

The question catches her off guard. What does he mean by that? She swallows, feigning conviction.

 

“So… it’s not your responsibility.”

 

“It could be. Besides, I don’t see anyone else stepping up.”

 

“I don’t need anyone to step up. I’m just fine, me and her.” Her hand rests on her stomach.

 

He cocks an eyebrow.

 

“Her?”

 

“It’s a girl. I don’t know how I know, I just know.”

 

He steps forward, his eyes locked on hers through the darkness.

 

“May I?” His hand reaches towards her stomach. She nods.

 

His fingers find the curve of her bump, brushing her sides before his palm, warm and wide, presses gently but firmly against her. She can feel the baby rolling over, making her presence felt.

 

His smile lights up the dark.

 

“She’s moving!”

 

“She must like you.”

 

“Who wouldn’t?”

 

She laughs, and the baby kicks right where Bill’s hand is.

 

“It’s like she knows me already.”

 

“Alright, don’t get carried away.”

 

There’s a beat of silence as they look at each other, feeling the baby between them, and for a moment Donna thinks she could stay like this forever.

 

“I’m serious about this Donna. I don’t want to disappear on you now. Especially now.”

 

Her thoughts swirl through the two possible futures now lying before her. She could say no, raise this baby alone, tie herself to the bar and the farmhouse and closing herself off to the world.

 

Or, she could have laughter, adventure, a partner, a wide open future for her and her little girl.

 

She could have Bill.

 

What was one more risk, really, after all she’d been through this year? _You think too much, you get unhappy._

 

She looks into his eyes, and already they look more like home than anywhere she’s ever known.

 

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please be gentle, it's been a while.


End file.
